I found that the UNRWA school system in Gaza was hardly secular. They had job postings for “religious instruction” teachers.School websites had articles extolling the virtues of martyrdom. A poem at the website of a central school site talked about how Zionists raped Palestine and how the author will return to Jaffa

Palestine should know I adore madness
Jaffa, I should know I’ll come back to it
Let him know it’s the crazy sons of Zion
With their thought of raping Palestine
The land of Canaan will be only to those who love her
Those who are occupied by people who do not
The land of Isra and Mi’raj cradle of the prophets
The land of jihad and martyrdom

As I noted then then, all of these examples directly contradict what UNRWA’s stated educational standards are, which include the idea that they are “tolerant and open minded, upholding human values and religious tolerance.”

Are Palestinian Christians forced to attend mandatory Quran classes run by UNRWA? Should the UN be in the Islamic education business? How much of UNRWA’s budget goes towards “religious education?” Are Western donors to UNRWA even aware that they are funding these lessons of jihad and martyrdom?

Guess what happened when I publicized this on my blog? Within a couple of weeks, every single one of these school websites were taken down. No acknowledgement, no apology, no relluctant press releases about how UNRWA has failed its mission.

Instead, Chris Gunness engineered a coverup.

In the meantime, this is how the interview with Gunness should have gone.

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An Aussie immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave is founder and managing editor of Israellycool, one of the world's most popular pro-Israel blogs (and the one you are currently reading)
He is a happy family man, and a lover of steak, Australian sports and girlie drinks